1. Technical Field
The invention relates to a system for detecting braking of a vehicle based on light emitted from rear lights of the vehicle. The invention further relates to a vehicle lighting control unit which controls the emission of light from rear lights of a vehicle.
2. Related Art
Conventional vehicles are equipped with brake lights which are illuminated in response to the driver actuating the brake pedal of the vehicle, resulting in a deceleration of the vehicle. The driver of a following vehicle is thus warned and enabled to react by reducing speed. Modern vehicles often have an improved braking performance which can for example be achieved by making use of electronic systems such as the anti-lock braking system (ABS) or an electronic stability control system (ESC). Accordingly, relatively fast deceleration can be achieved by such vehicles. This can be problematic for a driver in a following vehicle who only observes the illumination of the brake lights but has no indication about how strong the preceding vehicle is braking.
Vehicle manufacturers are trying to overcome this problem by providing particular visible, indications to the driver of a following vehicle by means of the rear lights. Examples of such indications are the flashing of the brake lights or the hazard flashers. Other implementations include increasing the brightness of the brake lights or increasing the light emitting area of the brake lights, e.g. by emitting light from an additional segment of the brake light or another light (which also increases the brightness perceived by the following driver). Yet such systems have not been able to show a significant improvement in the prevention of rear end collisions. This may be due to the fact that a driver of a following vehicle has to recognize the braking and has to react accordingly.
It is desirable to improve the warning of a following driver so that rear end collisions can be avoided. In particular, improvement of the reaction time after which a following vehicle starts to decelerate is desired. Also, a following vehicle would benefit from having more information available on a braking procedure being performed by the preceding vehicle.
Accordingly, there is a need to improve the detection of the braking of a vehicle.